


Pitstops on the way to Forever

by Oaklin



Series: Forever Everything [6]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Kayfabe Compliant, M/M, Possessive Behavior, Swearing, aggressive affection, mostly good natured friendly ribbing, obligatory Kevin Steen warning, plot convenience like WHOAH, stealth angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 07:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7499808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oaklin/pseuds/Oaklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tiny baby!Steen has a hard time letting go of the past, present and future. Not necessarily in that order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pitstops on the way to Forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JayDD](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayDD/gifts).



> Hello hello!
> 
> Okay, bit of a ...thing here. This wasn't even supposed to be a thing, I had an entirely different piece slated to come after The Long Road to Forever, but then Kevin attacked me with a really messed up plot bunny and here we are. Although, I guess this does tie up some loose ends so that's good I guess?
> 
> Again, fudgy timelines abound, it is kayfabe compliant but some things take place before/after they did irl. Like, irl Kevin and Sami started wrestling in the states regularly in 2004-ish (if I remember correctly) but in this series it was 2002. Also, apparently they all just teleport around for story conveniences sake and I totally just used the first two wrestlers that popped into my head when I was trying to remember who wrestled for IWS. Yes, I do know research is a thing. My real life schedule is not research compliant at the moment. Bear with me please.
> 
> I feel like I'm avenging Sami for all that The Way Forever Hurts/Bleeds/Aches fuckery. It's Kevin's turn to get browbeaten with obnoxious foreshadowing and mocked >:)
> 
> Also also, this is totes not as cool as the fanart, but I hope its a sufficient thank you :)

Kevin rolls his shoulders, listening to the satisfying crack of his neck as they stroll down main street. Glancing warily at his surroundings, Kevin wonders briefly why he agreed to come out in the middle of the day in subzero weather. Scrunching up his nose, Kevin hunches his shoulders and tucks his hands into his pockets, ignoring the howling wind searing his exposed face.

Franky claps him on the back, loud voice booming across the mostly deserted street.

“Hey! Why do you look so glum my friend? We had a great show, are you not in the mood to celebrate?”

Kevin rolls his eyes. “Not in a blizzard Franky.” Kevin shrugs off the arm Franky threw across his shoulders, “Besides, you lost, so what are you celebrating?”

Franky belly laughs long and loud, roughly clapping Kevin on the back again. “I have lots to celebrate my good friend! I had an amazing match with an amazing wrestler who took me to the limits of human endurance! We fought long and hard, until our blood stained the mat and our fists could strike no more!”

Kevin cocked his head, contemplating that paticular mental image, getting caught up in Franky’s enthusiasm despite himself. He felt his muscles begin to loosen for the first time since Sami had run out of their room in a huff earlier that morning.

Franky gestures wildly, big grin and exitement making him more animated than usual.

“We stood, two warriors, ready to do battle. And we did, didn’t we? Destroyed each other as only two friends can, with no remorse and no holding back. It was perfection.”

Franky threw an arm over Kevin’s shoulders again, and this time Kevin didn’t throw it off.

“The crowd was hot! The lights were on us! We were the center of the show, poised for war.” Franky moved his outstretched hand through the air in front of them as if to indicate the match that had taken place earlier, “The crowd screamed, we screamed and then twenty minutes of glorious carnage happened. I can still fell the trembling in my bones from his kicks, the blood on my knuckles from his mouth, the racing of my pulse from the adrenaline.”

Kevin closes his eyes, letting Franky steer them down the street, carrying on about his match. Kevin’s not listening at this point, stuck on the crimson images in his head, wrapped up in blacks and blues and reds. Kevin very suddenly wants to be back at the lot they had wrestled in at two this morning. He wanted to be back in the ring, squeezing pale flesh between his fingers and - _gripping red hair until he **screams**_ -

Kevin’s breath hitches and he closes his eyes, licking his bottom lip and elbowing Franky.

“I dunno if you should carry on like that, the guy who kicked your ass might have something to say about how glorious all that carnage was.” Kevin states, pulling in calming breaths as the mosey down the frigid streets.

“Of course my most esteemed opponent loved our match!” Franky bellowed, sounding offended on his opponents behalf, “Didn’t you Pierre?”

Pierre looks up from the paperback book in his hands, taking them both in with calculating eyes before responding, “Of course. Even if I didn’t love wrestling as much as I do, its a special thrill of its own to get in the ring with someone who complements me so well. Completes me in a way no one else does.”

Franky removes his arm from Kevin’s shoulders and stops completely to wrap Pierre up in a gratuitous bear hug.

“Oh you flatterer! You just want to meet me in glorious combat again!” Franky crows, planting Pierre back on the ground and beaming at him.

“Absolutely, I would love nothing more than to wrestle you many more times my friend.”

Pierre closes his book and tucks it into his back pocket.

“After all, there is always that one person you really can’t spend enough of your time sinking your fists into, no?”

Kevin stops on the sidewalk a bit ahead of them, turning back to squint at Pierre. Pierre just stares right back, gazing at him over Franky’s massive shoulders.

Kevin sighs, shifting in the cold air.

- _fellow predator. want to see who can catch a little red rabbit first?_ -

Kevin coughs into his fist, his breath turning to a cloud of mist in the frigid air.

“I dunno why you’re looking at me like that. I don’t care who I **bludgeon** , as long as I get to pummel **somebody**.”

Franky looks around, a perplexed expression on his face, “Yeah, speaking of, where is your tiny luchador friend?”

Kevin feels his hackles begin to raise even as he makes an effort to shake off the inevitable annoyance that comes with every conversation he has eventually turning to Sami somehow.

“No idea. I’m not his keeper.” Kevin says with forced casualness, scuffing at the ground with one sneaker, listening to the wind whistle through the buildings.

Franky laughs, “Of course you are. Who else would keep that little idiot from killing himself?”

Pierre chuckles, “I’m surprised he’s not running around out here in his underwear, screaming about the glory of nature," He casts Kevin a sly grin, “In fact, I’m surprised he’s not here joined to you at the hip, like he always is. Did you finally get tired of cleaning up after his nuclear blast-zone catastrophes?"

“Ooh, is that why he’s not here? His constant sunny personality started to grate and you kicked him out of the motel room?" Franky cocks his head at Kevin, “That is not very nice. You know he’s just gonna go bother someone else with his eternal goddamn positivity."

Pierre makes a face at that.

“Which is something I don’t get. How is it possible for someone that nice to make such massive messes? I mean, since he’s not with his minder, he’s probably off destroying someone’s kitchen, or interrupting someone’s wedding, or on a quest to put his feet up on every table in Philadelphia."

Kevin snaps his head up, gut twist painfully as inexplicable protectiveness pulls him back into the conversation.

“Hey, watch your goddamn mouth. Sami is perfectly capable-”

Before he’s even finished ( **before he can fucking even goddamn finish the bastardgingerpainintheassfuck** ) none other than the scrawny Canadian wonder himself comes barreling around the corner just up ahead, the sound of his footsteps tipping Kevin off. Kevin turns just in time to get an arm full of breathless redhead, Sami slamming into him with enough force to make him teeter for a brief moment.

Kevin stares down at Sami, mind trying to conjure up enough swear words to make this situation tolerable.

- _well, its not like this is an **unforeseen** development_ -

Sami finally seems to register that he’s hit an obstacle and he looks up, his eyes widening when he sees Kevin.

Going as red as his resplendent hair, Sami reels back and away from Kevin, arms pin-wheeling comically for a moment before he slams into the brick wall of the diner they’ve parked themselves in front of.

“Uh! Hey, hi, hello,” Sami babbles, one of his big, ridiculously awkward hands moving to rub self consciously at the back of his neck. He peers over Kevin’s shoulder and spots Pierre and Franky, going even redder when he realizes they have an audience.

“Um.” Sami mumbles intelligently, staring at the ground.

Kevin draws in a sharp, annoyed breath, bracing himself.

“Okay, I know I’m going to regret asking this, I acknowledge that. That being said,” Kevin takes a step closer, looming over Sami, who looks up from the ground to glance nervously at Kevin, “Sami, what the hell are you doing running around without a jacket on?”

Sami blinks at him like Kevin is speaking ancient Latin. The gangly wrestler looks down at himself, at his sweat pants and t-shirt. Thick wool gloves and sequined vest.

Fucking rainboots.

Sami adjusts the star framed sunglasses atop his head and looks back at Kevin.

“Um. I forgot?”

Kevin pinches the bridge of his nose, ignoring the snickers he can hear from behind him.

Goddamn everything to hell.

“Okay.” Kevin say, dropping his hand and observing Sami fidget for a moment, “Why are you running around outside at all? You ran off like a startled gazelle this morning, I didn’t think you would show back up until the show tomorrow.”

Sami perks up at that, “Oh yeah, sorry about that! Eddy said you were super grumpy because I took off without telling you-”

Kevin rears back as the chuckles behind him quiet.

“Eddy’s full of shit. I could give zero fucks where or when you go anywhere.” Kevin snaps, resisting the urge to back Sami into the wall and ... **hit** him or something. Kevin’s not sure, he just knows Sami needs to shut the fuck up.

- _got a good way to do that if you feel up for some **hot**_ -( **NO** )

Sami slides along the wall away from Kevin, looking alarmed, “Uh, okay. Whatever, I just wanted to apologize if I inconvenienced you?”

Kevin relaxes at the uncertain question, feeling his blood pressure return to normal.

“You are literally always an inconvenience. We’ve been over this.”

Kevin steps toward Sami as unintelligible muttering starts up behind him. Ignoring Franky and Pierre, he gets into Sami’s space.

“Do you have any idea how much sleep I lost because of you? You flicking on the lights at fucking six’o clock in the morning cost me like two hours of sleep. We didn’t even get to the damn motel until like four and then your dumb ass gets up two hours later to crash you noodly limbed body around the damn room like its the middle of the day.”

Sami shrinks back against the bricks, looking chastised, “But I -”

Kevin plows over him, drawing himself and stepping closer, getting into his rant with relish.

“And another thing, what the actual fuck was up with you tearing the room apart? I sat there and listened to you sobbing and digging through both our bags, under the bed, you were digging around in the bathroom sink drain at one point- that is **disgusting** by the way-”

Sami braced himself against the wall with one hand, straightening up and squaring his jaw defiantly.

“Well, if you didn’t sleep in a foldout chair right next to the bathroom door maybe it wouldn’t have been a problem-!”

“I can sleep **wherever** I want its my goddamn room! I **payed** for the damn thing!”

Sami poked him in the chest, “You didn’t even ask me for my half! You just paid and then never mentioned it again!”

Kevin threw his hands up, “Oh I see how it is. You are so fucking ungrateful. See if I pay for your share like the nice guy I am next time.”

Sami settled a hand on Kevin chest and gives him a firm push, “Good! Its really weird when you’re nice anyway! Makes me think-”

Sami cut himself off, looking mildly alarmed, then reddening. Kevin blinked at him momentarily, opening his mouth to break the uncomfortable silence-

“I forgot my jacket.” said Sami, staring at Kevin with a somberness that that sentence definitely did not warrant.

The guffaws broke out behind him again as Kevin stared at Sami, wondering what he had done in a past life to deserve this.

“Yes, we discussed that already.”

Sami dropped his hand from Kevin’s chest, wrapping both arms around himself, shivering.

“Its really cold.” Sami says, teeth literally chattering.

Kevin stares at him, pretty sure this is just some weird-ass dream at this point.

- _ **bullshit**. we both know what happens when Sami shows up in your dreams_ -

“Okay, that is it. I’m going back to the motel. You can run around out here in your t-shirt and galoshes if you fucking want. I’m out.”

Kevin stomps off in the direction of the motel, not at all surprised when he hears unsteady footsteps and jittery breathing close behind him.

Pierre and Franky call out their goodbyes, Kevin merely raising a hand as he retreats, wanting the warmth and relative sanity of their room before he tries to figure out what the fuck Sami’s problem is today.

* * *

As soon as Kevin gets the door open, Sami is launching himself through the doorway and hurdling around their room, throwing things every which way as he goes.

Kevin watches him for a minute, eye following the other man as he crawls under the bed until nothing but his legs and ass are peeking out.

Throwing his hoodie on the chair by the bathroom door, Kevin leans against the sink, crossing his arms.

“Alright, enough with the suspense. What the hell are you looking for?”

Kevin listens to the sharp thunk as Sami’s head smacks against the under side of the bed. There is a long, loud groan before Sami’s flailing legs go limp, his body slumping to the floor.

Kevin waits, the silence irritatingly awkward until he is about ready to walk over and see if the moron actually managed to knock himself out.

However before he can move, Sami slowly shuffles out from under the bed, holding his head and wincing. He sits there on the floor, knees curled up underneath him, looking far more forlorn than Kevin expected.

Kevin waits for an answer patiently, watching Sami check his hand for blood before finally turning his attention to Kevin.

“I lost my lucky marble.” Sami says, his eyes watering and Kevin’s not sure if its from smacking his stupid head or from his grief over a rounded piece of glass.

Kevin looks skyward, sure he doesn’t have enough patience for this.

“Is that seriously what you’ve been freaking out about all day? Really?”

Sami snaps his head up, glaring at Kevin.

“Its the last of the very first set my parents got me, jackass.”

Oh, well, that explains _everything_.

Kevin rubs his index finger over his bottom lip, appraising Sami’s angry gaze with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay. So you lost it here this morning?”

Sami seems to deflate a bit, slumping to the floor, shoulders drooping as the fire leaves his eyes, only the forlorn-ness from earlier remaining.

“No. It disappeared the last time we were here in Philadelphia. I was hoping it was still around somewhere.”

Kevin nods, like he understands, turning his gaze to the threadbare carpet as he tries to think of something to say that isn’t a string of exasperated expletives.

There was a lot wrong with that statement of course. They hadn’t been in Philly for four months, the show they’d done last time had been on the other side of town, this was an entirely different motel than the one they had stayed in last time.

“Right okay. You lost you marbles, big surprise-” Sami looks up, wounded betrayal on his face and Kevin raises a hand, cutting over Sami’s righteous anger at Kevin’s dismissive attitude toward lucky marbles, “-did you try retracing your steps from memory?”

Sami deflates again, looking at Kevin in befuddlement. It passes quickly as he registers what Kevin said and embarrassment colors his cheeks, making Sami look down, face going scarlet.

“Uh, no. I don’t really remember much about the last time we were here?”

Kevin eyes him, waiting but Sami just stares at the carpet.

“Okay was that a question directed at me? Because I don’t know what you want unless you do what us normal human beings like to call communication and-”

Sami groaned, the sound seeming to knock him back wards until he’s slouched against the bed, his legs splayed out in front of him at a painful looking angle.

- _okay now he's just doing it on purpose_ -(shutthefuckup)

“Do you remember where we stayed the last time we were here Kevin?” Sami asked the nightstand, fingers fiddling with his sunglasses.

“Yeah.”

Sami perked up almost immediately, coming halfway up off the floor and shuffling toward Kevin on his knees, like he couldn’t even wait until he was fully standing to get to his new information source.

- _now **that** is a **nice** fucking **view**_ -

“Across town, next to that nasty ass park with the green pool-”Kevin scooted around Sami, dodging the flailing arms reaching for him and rummaged through his strew belongings, finding what he was looking for on top of the tv, “Here. I still have their card. Its got a phone number if you want to-”

He breaks off as one-hundred and ninety pounds of exuberant sunshine fly into him, knocking him back against the tv stand.

“Thank you thank you! You are the greatest person in the world! I love you so fucking much Kevin!” Sami shrieks, seeming near tears as he crushes Kevin against him.

“I am amazing, we all know this. Now go roam around in a blizzard looking for your marbles and leave us nice people who just want a nap in peace yeah?”

Kevin tries to extricate himself from the tangle of their limbs, but before he can Sami grabs his face and plants a big, sloppy kiss on Kevin’s cheek, the motion rocking Kevin backwards enough that he has to put a hand against the wall to keep from falling over.

Sami pulls back, warm hands still on Kevin‘s cheeks and beams brightly at his friend.

“I’ll be sure to be extra quiet when I get back, so you can sleep as long as you want okay?” Sami announces, before abruptly letting Kevin go and bouncing off, heading for the door with a mission.

“Jacket.” Kevin reminds him, the wrecked sound of his own voice making him wince. He clears his throat as he trudges across the room, plucking his hoodie up off the chair and tossing it at Sami.

Sami fumbles to catch the slow moving projectile, his excitement making him more squirrelly than usual. He stuffs himself into the hoodie then flashes Kevin one last sweet smile before bounding out into the harsh weather.

- _man, **doomed** doesn't even **begin** to cover it any more_ -

“Fuck you. Me. Whatever- fuck.” Kevin runs a hand over his face, trying to ignore the way his cheek burns, as is Sami’s lips had left little trails of sunlight across his skin.

Walking past the mess that Sami had turned their room into, Kevin flops down on the bed, grabbing the pillow that still smells faintly of Sami’s shampoo and presses his face deeply into the scent, trying not to be alarmed at how calm it makes him.

- _this whole thing could have been avoided if you'd just given it back_ -

Kevin can feel the small sphere in his pocket, digging slightly painfully into his thigh, squished between his body and the bed. Reaching down, he pulls the marble out of his pants, eyeing the way, even with the curtains closed, it sends cascades of color across the bed. Kevin glances at the door, feeling a pull of almost guilt, before closing his fist around the marble, relishing the feel of a small piece of someone trapped in his hands.

“Mine now.” Kevin sighs out, the words feeling so good to say. Probably too good. Not that it matters. Sami doesn’t have to know.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope that was as interesting to read as it was to write. I'm gonna be honest, I definitely did not see Kevin falling first. I was sure it would be Sami and I guess technically Sami HAS fallen first, its just, I mean this is ALMOST an admission from Kevin. Of course, he's still all fucking weird and overly possessive and majorly disturbing about the whole thing, but clearly there is some serious development there. 
> 
> I won't lie I'm kinda proud of him. Bby's all grown up and learning how to love someone. Not well or healthily, but I don't expect miracles.
> 
> I debated for a while, but pretending this isn't endgame Zowens is getting ridiculous, so I'm all in with the damn m/m tag. I still promise no happy endings! The series is very long and complicated as we move through periods of their lives and I don't know if I'll be able to get a happy ending out of these two angsty jerks. I won't force one though, I hate trying to MAKE a story flow a certain way, it doesn't seem natural and usually just makes me not want to write at all.
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it!


End file.
